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Glock in 38 Super

20K views 50 replies 31 participants last post by  Cambo 
#1 ·
I think it is time for Glock to make a Glock 19 size pistol in 38 Super. Would you buy one if they did?
 
#5 ·
I saw a converted Glock 29 in 9 x 23 Winchester, I think all that was done was a barrel change. .38 super is getting more expensive and less common. Even the big online dealers don't have a big variety or quantity. I love the round, but like .357 Sig, I think it's on its way out.
 
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#6 ·
I saw a converted Glock 29 in 9 x 23 Winchester, I think all that was done was a barrel change. .38 super is getting more expensive and less common. Even the big online dealers don't have a big variety or quantity. I love the round, but like .357 Sig, I think it's on its way out.
Yeah, it's been on it's way out since 1929.
 
#9 ·
I love and respect the round. You don't see any current guns chambered in it other than EAA Witnesses and certain 1911s. I wish it was more common, and ammo prices were cheaper like they used to be. When I had my .38 Witness Longslide, I was paying $12/a box. At that time, 9mm was $7/a box. Now 9mm is $10, and .38 super is $25 - $30. No thanks.
 
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#7 ·
Lone Wolf makes G20/21 barrels. At least they used to.
 
#8 ·
I wouldn't buy a G19 in .38 Super but if they did a G34/35 or better yet a 17L/24 size I would. I have several other .38 supers.
The .38 super is still quite popular in competition shooting, I see many people comment on "its on the way out" while its only seeing more use in comps.
The magazines are an issue in glocks, too long for 9mm and they don't feed well from .40 or larger size mags with out mods and then reliability can be iffy.
 
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#13 ·
The .38 super is still quite popular in competition shooting, I see many people comment on "its on the way out" while its only seeing more use in comps.
Admittedly though, it's on the decline in competition as well, with the allowance of 9mm major. While I still believe the .38 super is the superior round, I still rebarreled my open gun to 9mm. $150 for 1,000 pieces of brass versus $0 is a no brained.
 
#10 ·
I'm a fan of the 38 Super in a 1911 from way back, but he 357 sig is so close to the 38 Super ballistically that there would be no point in using the G21 frame and creating special magazines to accommodate the cartridge and maybe even making it a single stack just so that you could have a Glock that said "38 SUPER" on the slide.

And even then, most of the ammo that you can buy today in 38 super is not loaded to it's full potential.

So I think if you want a cartridge built on a G20-21 frame that you're going to have to reload for to get 357 sig ballistics, a better choice would be to just get a 9x25 barrel for a glock 20 and the 9x25 rounds will feed perfectly from a standard G20 magazine and ballistics can exceed both the 38 super and the 357 sig, or you can load the cartridge down to whatever specific velocities you desire.

I think one of these extended, ported, barrels would be WAY cool and I'm thinking of getting one, putting it in my gun, and calling it a 38 Super Duper.

http://www.lonewolfdist.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=955
 
#15 ·
...

I think one of these extended, ported, barrels would be WAY cool and I'm thinking of getting one, putting it in my gun, and calling it a 38 Super Duper.

http://www.lonewolfdist.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=955
I have that barrel, but at $160 a set, I can't bring myself to buy dies for it, and they're not exactly littering ebay. I wish Dillon would release a standard steel set for a reasonable price.
 
#12 ·
If it wasn't for USPSA open the .38 super wouldn't even be the niche caliber it is today. You'll see runs of the caliber in guns/ammo every once in awhile but as a main line item, no.
It's like a piece I read some time back concerning rifle calibers and sales. It stated that the 30/06, .270, 7mm Rem mag/.300 Win mag
constituted 60-65% of all rifle sales, all the other calibers combined made up the rest. Like any business(s) gun/ammo manufacturers go with what sells the most.
 
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#17 ·
Thanks, I'll give them a holler. I'm ok with lubing cases, hell, I lube 500s with a carbide die, just makes it easier. I talked to Hornady about a set of dies, and they went full-custom-bananas on me. Hundreds of dollars and chamber drawings and blah blah blah. I think they thought it was some one-off wildcat.
 
#18 ·
Only if it could fit in a 9/40 size gun and if ammo and once fired brass was as plentiful and was the same price as 9mm. So in other words, "no".
 
#20 ·
Huh?
How would that be possible?
The whole design of the round was to make it the same OAL of the 45ACP.
As it was for the 10mm AUTO (approximately), introduced in 1983.

The COALs of the .38 Super (1.260-1.280 max), 10mm, and .45acp are all pretty close ... which means they all require a large-frame auto platform.
 
#25 ·
I've seen two .38 Supers in my life that were actually owned by someone that I knew. I have shot only one, so I was suprised that there is another small(?) market for .38 Super that I learned a few months back at my local gun shop.

Three Mexican guys came in after they got off work for the day, two spoke no English and their spokesman spoke broken English. They apeared to do construction work. The spokesman, who was known to the folks at the shop, ask the manager for .38 Super cartridges. They had a dispute over money (the guys didn't have any) and they left empty handed. I ask the manager what was up with these guys wanting .38 super cartridges of all things, and he said that it was very common because the gun laws in Mexico do not allow private citizens to own any caliber that is used, or has ever been used, by the police or military forces. .38 Super falls into that catagory and may well be the only caliber that slips through the cracks.
 
#40 ·
I've seen two .38 Supers in my life that were actually owned by someone that I knew. I have shot only one, so I was suprised that there is another small(?) market for .38 Super that I learned a few months back at my local gun shop.

Three Mexican guys came in after they got off work for the day, two spoke no English and their spokesman spoke broken English. They apeared to do construction work. The spokesman, who was known to the folks at the shop, ask the manager for .38 Super cartridges. They had a dispute over money (the guys didn't have any) and they left empty handed. I ask the manager what was up with these guys wanting .38 super cartridges of all things, and he said that it was very common because the gun laws in Mexico do not allow private citizens to own any caliber that is used, or has ever been used, by the police or military forces. .38 Super falls into that catagory and may well be the only caliber that slips through the cracks.
And that is the raison d'etre of the Colt .38 Super round -- Mexico (and apparently other countries south of the border) has a ban on civilian possession of .45 ACP, 9mm parabellum and any other military or former military cartridge (including 30.06 Springfield, 7.62 mm NATO and 7mm Mauser). Hell, I can remember a local Houston disk jockey being arrested and having his aircraft seized because he had to make a forced landing in Mexico in a freaking Stearman! I'm not sure he ever got the airplane back. (Photo is NOT the aircraft in question).
Aircraft Vehicle Airplane Wheel Propeller
 
#26 ·
Short answer to OP's question: no. I would be surprised if many foils would have an interest beyond competition shooters or Mexicans (j/k!!) , that being said, I realize that group could well be a large enough group to make this a viable option for Glock.

That's just my opinion and I could well be wrong. A few years ago a lot of said no way Glock would offer a single stack 9. Now many of us have it.
 
#29 ·
I think one of the things that has really held back the 38 Super is its semi-rimmed case. It just doesn't feed very well compared to rimless cases. Most race gun guys are using Super Comp cases, ie rimless 38 Super cases.

I had some feeding issues with both my Kimber and Witness, but after switching to Super Comp cases, all feeding problems went away.

As for performance, the 5" barrels will launch a 124gr bullet just over 1500fps and the 6" does 1640fps. With a 147gr bullet, it will do nearly 1400fps.

Tony
 
#32 ·
I like the caliber and carry it often, Colt 1911 Gov't as I type. Living in a border county along the International Border. The Super is probably in use more along the border states as a carry than other states, dunno.

As a reloader, this is a great caliber to experiment with, like the .357 caliber 125gr XTP, a much tougher bullet than the .355 caliber 124gr XTP. More importantly, with the right powder, MVs are in factory .357mag ammunition, at SAAMI chamber pressures.

I have a .38 Super Lonewolf barrel for the G20, it will shoot with modifications, but it's easier to shoot 1911s than modify G20s and G20 magazines. It's a great caliber to load for and carry, I've shot more vermin on the property than all my other calibers combined, it's hard to improve upon DRT. :)
 
#37 ·
A G41 single stack holding 10 rounds of Super would be great! That should solve any feeding issues with this round that a high cap magazine may have. The grip would be a little on the big size for EDC, but the slide width is about as good as it gets for a Glock if you wanted to carry.

Here in WA, the 10 round magazine restriction just went into affect. So having options besides 9mm now make more sense. I have a Sig P220 in 38 Super; holds 9 rounds. The 38 Super was the first “9mm magnum” (I believe). So it’s plenty powerful and accurate to be a self defense round all day long (albet more expensive).

As an alternative; if you can get a 9x25 barrel for a G20 or even better, a G41, that would make a great alternative. KKM Precision makes a 9x25 barrel for the G20, but only in small batches about once a year. I’m not sure if there willing to do one for the G41, but I’m going to email them and find out.

:cool:
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